The Thursday Night Football game between the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills witnessed an unusual turn of events as veteran NFL referee Adrian Hill suffered a non-contact leg injury. He left the game after he appeared to hurt his left leg while jogging in the end zone during the third quarter.
Fortunately, Hill appears to have avoided a major injury with his Achilles tendon intact, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. He is headed to injured reserve, though he could still make a postseason return, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
During the incident, Hill began limping after planting his leg following a play in which Bills quarterback Josh Allen was sacked by Texans defensive end Danielle Hunter. He was assisted off the field by two members of Houston staff and carted to the locker room, putting no weight on his leg.
Following the injury to Hill, umpire Roy Ellison assumed the role of head referee for the remainder of the game, donning Hill’s white hat. This adjustment left the officiating crew without a dedicated umpire for the remainder of the matchup, as the NFL only keeps backup officials available for postseason games, not regular-season contests.
The umpire is responsible for monitoring the offensive line and helping track potential hits on the quarterback, so Ellison had to cover the entire line alone for the rest of the contest. In the end, the Texans defeated the Bills 23–19, improving to 6–5 while Buffalo dropped to 7–4.
Hill possesses considerable experience both on and off the football field. He has been an NFL official since 2010 and was promoted to head referee in 2019. Hill has led officiating crews in well over 100 contests and handled NFC Wild Card assignments in both 2022 and 2023. Before joining the NFL, he officiated college football from 2004 to 2009, including assignments in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Conference USA, and NFL Europe.
Off the field, Hill works full-time as a flight software engineer in the Space Department at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and has previously been recognized as Engineer of the Year by the Baltimore chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
